Package copilot-cli in docker image

[staffanf]

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

Developers without nodejs on their machines cannot install copilot-cli

Proposed solution

A super easy way for developers that does not have nodejs on their machines to get started.
Also allows for easy upgrades.

Example prompts or workflows

Add

alias ghcop='docker run --rm -ti -v ~/.copilot:/something github/copilot-cli'

to .bashrc
and the you are ready to run copilot

Additional context

No response

[SteveSandersonMS]

Cool idea, thanks. It may be slightly more complicated in practice though:

1. It would also need a volume mount to be able to read/write files in the host (e.g., your current directory) since you likely want it to work on your project
2. It would be quite restrictive, since it wouldn't be able to run whatever dev tools you have on your host (e.g., go, dotnet, etc) unless they are also preinstalled inside the container, and then you'd need ways to determine which versions etc.

Maybe it would be possible to have a mechanism like Copilot Coding Agent's copilot-setup-steps.yml to make it configure the dev environment inside the container.

Overall, if the goal is just to skip the Node.js dependency, #16 may be a more direct solution.

[brki]

See for example: https://github.com/GordonBeeming/copilot_here

I imagine that many people will want to install their own selection of additional tools in the docker image, so it should be easy to specify a custom image (that is based on a provided base image).

[devm33]

If you are using Dev Containers, the CLI is also available via a Dev Container Feature. Add to your devcontainer.json

        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/copilot-cli:1": {},

Or for prereleases:

        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/copilot-cli:1": {
            "version": "prerelease"
        },

[iomarmochtar]

@staffanf , i looking the same but turns out i just use my own tooling for it (https://github.com/iomarmochtar/sandock), yup you need to installed it but it's just a docker wrapper with (very) minimal python dependency

this is my config

volumes:
   gh-copilot-config:
     labels:
       backup.mochtar.net: "true"

programs:
  copilot-cli: &copilot-cli
    image: omr:copilot-cli
    hostname: gh-copilot-cli
    build:
      dockerfile_inline: |
        FROM ubuntu:24.04
  
        ARG VERSION="0.0.374"
        ARG ARCH="arm64"
  
        RUN apt update; \
            apt install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates curl tar; \
            rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*; \
            mkdir -p /opt/copilot
  
        RUN FILENAME="copilot-linux-${ARCH}.tar.gz"; \
            URL="https://github.com/github/copilot-cli/releases/download/v${VERSION}/${FILENAME}"; \
            \
            curl -fsSL "${URL}" -o /tmp/copilot.tar.gz; \
            tar -xzf /tmp/copilot.tar.gz -C /opt/copilot/; \
            rm -rf /tmp/copilot.tar.gz
  
        RUN cat <<EOF > /opt/copilot/wrapper.sh
        #!/bin/bash
  
        CFG=/gh-copilot/config.json
        CO_DATA=\$HOME/.copilot
        mkdir -p /gh-copilot \$CO_DATA
        test -f \$CFG || ( touch \$CFG && ln -s \$CFG \$CO_DATA/config.json)
  
        # it's inside an isolated env
        /opt/copilot/copilot --allow-all-paths --allow-all-tools \$*
        EOF
  
        RUN chmod +x /opt/copilot/wrapper.sh
    exec: /opt/copilot/wrapper.sh
    aliases:
      sh: /bin/bash
    volumes:
      - gh-copilot-config:/gh-copilot
      - gh-data:/root/.copilot

configure the shortcuts, to execute it.

copilot-cli
# or
copilot-cli-sh

notes:

• volume gh-copilot-config it's configured as backup target (ref). so it's an optional part
• it will automatically mount the current directory to /sandbox
• it can be extended, eg: pre-installed tools. sample:

  go-copilot:
    <<: *copilot-cli
    image: omr:go-copilot-cli
    build:
      depends_on: omr:copilot-cli
      dockerfile_inline: |
        FROM golang:1.25.3-bookworm

        COPY --from=omr:copilot-cli /opt/copilot /opt/copilot
    aliases:
      go: go
    env:
      GOCACHE: /cache/gocache
      GOMODCACHE: /cache/gomodcache
  volumes:
    - fetch_prop(programs.copilot-cli.volumes)
    - go_cache:/cache

[tkapin]

I was just looking for the Copilot CLI Docker image to run Copilot CLI in YOLO mode in a sandboxed environment. I haven't explored offerings of other similar tools in much detail, but at least Claude Code seems to have a containerization story sorted out per https://code.claude.com/docs/en/devcontainer.

I ended up creating my own image, but I believe there would be value in providing an official image that people could use as base image for their CCLI workflows.